Cleaning device for bowling balls or other spherical objects



June 24,1969 F. GERMANN 1,

CLEANING DEVICE FOR BOWLING BALLS OR OTHER SPHERICAL OBJECTS Filed Dec.27, 1966 I NVENTOR. FRANZ GERMANN BY flmw ww ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent 3,451,088 CLEANING DEVICE FOR BOWLING BALLS OR OTHER SPHERICALOBJECTS Franz Germann, 31A Ashurst Ave., Middletown, RI. 02840 FiledDec. 27, 1966, Ser. No. 604,884 Int. Cl. B08b 1/04, N02

US. 'CI. 15-97 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of theinvention Bowling alleys are usually dressed with a wax-like coatingwhich is picked up by the bowling ball as it is rolled down the alley,and this picked-up dressing must be removed from the bowling ball and isusually done so by wiping the ball by hand. Fixed brushes have beenattempted with the ball moving thereover by gravity as shown in Patent2,217,256 and also a fixed brush with a belt conveyor to move the balltherethrough has been attempted in Patent 3,077,623. However, these havenot gone into general use, and wiping the ball by hand is still common.

Summary The spherical object cleaner is an inclined trough comprising aplurality of cylindrical members extending lengthwise of the trough andeach having a buffing surface. There is one cylindrical roller at thebottom center of the trough, while upwardly therefrom and at either sideof the center bottom roller there are other cylindrical members arrangedin arcuate fashion so as to conform generally to the arc of thespherical object which is to be cleaned. Guides are provided above theside cylindrical members which are not rotatable but which also have abuffing surface. The cylindrical members are rotated in the samedirection which give to the ball a spinning action and materially speedup this advance along the general incline of the trough. Each of thecylindrical members comprises a. core with a buffing sleeve which may beremovably positioned on the core. The cylindrical members are supportedin bearings at each of their ends with the bearings at one end of themembers being in an end wall of the trough, which end wall supports oris a common support for the bearings of each of the cylindrical members.This end wall is removable from the trough so that the sleeves on thecylinder core may be slid lengthwise of the members off of the membersso as to be replaced by fresh sleeves.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a perspective view of thedevice;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a section on line 3--3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an elevation broken away and showing the end wall of thetrough removed and also one of the sleeves from the rollers removed andshown partly broken away; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective diagrammatic view of the drive for thecylindrical members.

Description of the preferred embodiment A trough designated generally 10has a bottom wall 11 and side walls 12 and end Walls 14 and 15 servingas a framework. Cylindrical members designated generally as a bottommember 20 and side members 21 and 22 each comprise a core as may be seenbest in FIG. 4 at 23 with a driving shaft extending from the one end tobe supported in bearings in the end wall 14 and trunnions 24 extendingfrom the other end supported in bearings 17, 18, .19 in the end wall 15.Upon this core there are provided sleeves 25 which in the showing herecomprises three" sleeves on each core of the cylindrical member arrangedin tandem relation, each sleeve being formed of a buffing material,conveniently such a sleeve is found on the market in the form used for aroller paint applicator. The sleeves fit snugly or may be secured on thecore so as to rotate therewith.

The end wall 15 is removably positioned in'the end of the trough andheld therein by means of hooks 26 at its upper edge and catches 27supported on a post adjacent the end wall 15 of the trough and similarhooks 28 supported on a cross bar and catches 29 on the side walls 12 atthe lower portion of the trough. Thus, this end wall and its bearings17, 18, 19 may be readily removed for exposing the ends of thecylindrical members so that soiled sleeves may be slid from the cores 23and replaced with fresh sleeves.

The side walls 12 or frame also support guides 30 and 31 which arelocated vertically above the side cylindrical members 21 and 22 andwhich consist of battens provided with but-ling surfaces 32 and 33 ofthe same material that covers the rolls. These surfaces, however, arenot rotated and are primarily guides for directing the ball as it movesalong the trough which has the buffing surfaces generally inclined tothe horizontal so as to tend to move the ball through the trough.

In order to assist the cleaning action and also to assist in advancingthe ball through the trough, each of the cylindrical members is rotatedby a pulley attached to the shaft which extends through the end wall 14.Thus, there is a pulley 35 on the shaft of the lower cylindrical member20 driven from pulley 36 of motor 37, while also on this shaft there isa pulley 38 which drives pulley 30 on the shaft of cylindrical member 22and a pulley 40 which drives the pulley 41 on the shaft of cylindricalmember 21. Thus all of the cylindrical members will be driven in thesame direction causing the ball to attain a rather high speed ofrotation but not as fast as the rollers are traveling, thus buffing theball 42 and picking up of such Iwax as it may have collected thereonfrom an alley. It is found that most of the accumulated dirt from theball accumulates on the lower center roller 20 while other lesseraccumulation is 'found on the cylindrical members 21 and 22. However,the side guides which also have a buffing surface collect very little ofthe dirt from the spherical object cleaned due probably to the fact thatmost dirt is accumulated on the area which supports the most of theweight of the ball. It is found that by spinning the ball in this mannerit travels through the trough faster than it would if this spinning didnot occur and also serves to speed the ball up as it emerges from thetrough. As the ball emerges from the trough, non-cleaning members 45 and46 which are in effect extensions of the guides 30 and 31 serve todirect the ball along the track 47 which is the track directing the ballback to the bowler.

A track designated generally 50 is provided adjacent the entrance of theball in the trough and which also bears the same inclination of thetrough and consists of arcuately arranged bars 51 to receive the ball sothat it may roll into the trough by gravity.

1. A cleaning device for a spherical object comprising an elongatedinclined surface trough through which the object passes, said troughcomprising a bottom cylindrical member and a side cylindrical member oneach side thereof and in raised relation thereto, said cylindricalmembers having their axes parallel and extending lengthwise of thetrough and each provided with a buffing surface, additional fixed guidesextending longitudinally of the trough and located vertically above theside cylindrical members and provided with a buffing surface, thebuffing surfaces of said cylindrical members and said fixed guides beinglocated substantially the same radial distance from a centerapproximating the center of the object to be cleaned when in saidtrough, means for rotating said members about their axes in the samedirection to rotate said object as it moves along the inclined surface,said rotation increasing the speed of travel through the trough 'withrelation to the speed of travel by gravity alone along the inclinesurface of the trough.

2. A cleaning device .as in claim 1 wherein the means for rotating saidmembers is by means of an electric motor belted thereto.

3. A cleaning device for a spherical object comprising an elongatedtrough through which the object passes, said trough comprising acylindrical member having its axis extending lengthwise of the troughand provided with a buffing surface upon which the object to be cleanedrests by gravity, means for rotating said member, said member comprisinga cylindrical core and a sleeve slidable over said core and said sleeveproviding said buffing surface, a frame providing bearings for theopposite ends of said cylindrical member, the portion of the frameproviding the bearing for one end comprising a unit separable from theremainder of the frame and means comprising detachable clasps betweensaid unit and the remainder of the frame to hold the unit theretoproviding ready detachment of said unit for interchange of said sleeve.

4. A cleaning device as in claim 3 wherein there are a plurality ofcylindrical members each provided with a core and removable sleeve toprovide buffing surfaces.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 528,195 10/1894 Warr 153.2626,613 6/1899 Hendrix 153 .2 1,081,367 12/1913 Cook 153.2 2,005,1156/1935 Stutz 1521.1

EDWARD L. ROBERTS, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 153.2

